BCS holds sway over Mountain West merger

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The Mountain West has been having discussions with Conference USA about holding a postseason championship game between the two leagues in football. But it likely won’t happen unless the Mountain West is denied automatic annual access to the Bowl Championships Series, San Diego State Athletic Director Jim Sterk said Wednesday.

Sterk recently was in Dallas to hear presentations made by the commissioners of the two leagues as they try to strengthen their position in the turbulent world of conference realignment. Though nothing has been finalized, details from the discussions revealed where the two leagues might be headed:

--Football-only LLC: The two leagues have talked about forming a joint limited liability company for football only, Sterk said. The leagues likely would retain their current makeup and scheduling format except for the postseason, when the champions of each league would play each other, hopefully for the right to go to a lucrative BCS bowl game. Access to a BCS game still would depend on approval by ESPN, the six power conferences in college football and the BCS bowls (the Rose, Sugar, Orange and Fiesta).

“It’s not ever appropriate to speculate about hypothetical situations,” BCS Executive Director Bill Hancock said. “But any proposal to revise the (BCS) contracts would need to be approved unanimously by the conferences, the bowls and ESPN.”

--BCS factor: Sterk said the Mountain West would not be interested in this arrangement unless it was denied an automatic annual berth into the BCS for 2012 and 2013. The league is in the last year of a four-year evaluation process to get a BCS berth for those two years. Even if it doesn’t meet the mathematical criteria to get a BCS berth outright, the league likely will have a strong case to get one anyway on appeal to the BCS presidential oversight committee.

If the Mountain West gets an automatic BCS berth, Sterk said it would have no incentive to share any of the resulting revenue with the 12 schools of Conference USA. That’s why any collaboration between the two leagues could hinge on whether the Mountain West gets into the BCS, which probably won’t be known until December or January. Any possible championship game between the two leagues also probably wouldn’t happen for at least a couple of years.

“My hope is that the Mountain West becomes an automatic qualifier in the BCS,” Sterk said. “If it doesn’t, this could be a good next step as far as fitting in the national scene with football.”

--After 2014: These scenarios largely assume the BCS continues under its current format or something closely resembling it after 2014. In January 2014, the two contracts that make up the BCS system both expire. What happens after that? It’ll depend in part on changes to conference membership. Currently, only six of the 11 leagues in major college football get automatic BCS berths for their champions: the Big Ten, Pac-12, Southeastern, Big East, Big 12 and Atlantic Coast.

If the BCS ceases to exist after 2014, the Mountain West still may see value in working with Conference USA to enhance its position.

--Revenue issues: If the two leagues had a championship game, such a game presumably would bring in additional TV revenue, though it might not be a significant amount when split among 22 schools (12 in Conference-USA and 10 next year in the Mountain West). Sterk said discussions have begun with TV partners in an effort to enhance revenue and create a more national “presence.” The Mountain West is in the middle of a 10-year, $120 million TV deal with CBS and Comcast that started in 2006. Conference USA has a TV deal with Fox Sports through 2016.

The Mountain West is scheduled to have 10 members in football next year with the subtraction of Texas Christian and the addition of Fresno State, Nevada and Hawaii. But the league still may have to fight off poaching by the Big East and Big 12, which might want to offer membership to Air Force and Boise State, respectively.

The two leagues issued the following statement this week:

“Athletics directors and administrators at Conference USA and the Mountain West Conference enjoyed a productive exchange of ideas this week. In today’s dynamic intercollegiate athletics environment, we feel it is important to be proactive and creative. Our intention is to move forward together with this discussion and analysis at a focused pace.”

SDSU football update: Starting senior linebacker Miles Burris is being held back with a mild high ankle sprain in practice this week but is expected back for SDSU’s game next week against TCU, head coach Rocky Long said. Burris sustained the injury in last week’s 28-7 loss against Michigan. Sophomore Vaness Harris is working with the first-team defense in his place.